Learning to live green and live together

‘Tis the season for getting those garden plants started. Many classic garden plants like tomatoes and peppers suggest starting indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost so I’m actually a little bit late. (Last frost here is about May 15th, I think.) My friend Maggie and I are growing flowers for our weddings as well as planting a big veggie patch this year. As usual, I pulled out my seed collection and decided I didn’t need to buy any new seeds but then after I had my hands in the dirt I realized I was missing some of the plants I wanted. Ah, well.

This is another project that gets a little messy but it was cold out so I did it on our dining room floor. Will only teased me slightly for getting dirt everywhere. (I swept it up later.) I bought a small bag of potting soil at our local farmers co-op. They also sell bulk seeds by the scoop, which I find absolutely fascinating. It’s like a candy shop for gardeners!

Anyway, I still had some seed trays from last year so I filled them up with potting soil. I was a little worried about how to water them until I remembered that our kitchen sink has one of those handy spray nozzles. It worked like a charm!

I planted echinacea, brussel sprouts, cabbages, blue fescue (ornamental grass), liatris, St. John’s wort, forget-me-not, lavender, two kinds of decorative sage, larkspur, and basil. My planting tip o’ the week: bury seeds approximately twice as deep as they are wide. These seeds were pretty tiny so I just kinda poked them into the soil and sprinkled a little extra on top. A few of them have sprouted but they’re not super impressive yet so I’ll wait to post more photos. For now, my two trays are sitting in the sun by our glass back door and have their little plastic domes in place to keep in the moisture. Maggie has an awesome set up with grow lights and heating blankets so she’ll probably win the sprouting competition but as long as mine come up, I’ll be happy.

I haven’t played with LED grow lights but I have friends who have other grow lights and heat pads and they do help the sprouts get going but I guess for me it seems a little too unnatural. I mean, it’s an arbitrary line, to be sure but I’m more comfortable growing them in sunlight, just inside my heated apartment. But if I get into it and decide to explore lights, I’ll definitely check out the LED ones!